Development Matters Blog

A while back, we decided to upgrade our Dynamics CRM 3.0 system to Dynamics CRM 4.0. We had a specific situation, though: moving the CRM server from a 32-bit machine onto a 64-bit machine and upgrade.

Dynamics CRM 4.0 installation is divided into two ways: one for a 32-bit and one for a 64-bit machine. We couldn’t install Dynamics CRM 3.0 on a 64-bit machine, restore the old database, and then upgrade it to Dynamics CRM 4.0. So, we followed the process below to upgrade:

1. Backup CRM 3.0 (Company database)
2. Install CRM 3.0 on virtual machine
3. Restore Company database.
4. Upgrade CRM 3.0 on CRM 4.0
5. Check if all data are restored (including workflows, all customizations).
6. If everything is restored and customizations are all there, Backup Company Database.
7. On production server (in our case, 64-bit machine) we installed CRM 4.0 (64-bit version).
8. Restore Company database (created backup in step 6).
9. Using Deployment Manager tool, we created new Organization and used restored database for source.

We had a few smaller issues with the upgrade. For example, when we added a new organization (the first one was default), we couldn’t change the default organization. Also, we had an issue with sending E-mails from the upgraded CRM (which will be discussed in my next article).

The problem with the default organization in the Deployment Manager Tool for Dynamics CRM 4.0:

During installation of Dynamics CRM 4.0 you can see that there is one organization and it is set as default. When you add a new organization and set it on default, you will have a problem to get the Default Company through a server URL. For example, http://mycrm:5555 will always find the first default organization. This is because the default organization is related to web services but not for the web client. To resolve this issue you need to start Deployment Manager (All Programs -> Microsoft CRM -> Deployment Manager). You need to be a member of the Deployment Administrators group to run this tool. Remove the first organization (data are still on SQL server), set the second organization as the default, and then add a new organization which will get data from the database of the first one.

You probably already have experience with the Dynamics Debug function. To use this option, the Dex.ini file should be extended with the new statement, ScriptDebugger=TRUE, which allows you to see debug messages, scripts, procedures and functions in the background of Dynamics GP.

Let’s say that you have a client who gives you access to a test environment via Citrix. You want to check the script’s behavior by clicking CTRL+F1, but nothing happens.

• Resolution: Keep the SHIFT button pressed and using the mouse select Debug -> Script Debugger option.

And, Script Debugger is opened!

Most of the people who use Google search think of the Advanced Search option when they want to perform some more controllable searches. However, Advanced Search only offers a bit of Google’s search capabilities. Below are a few basic tips to extend the search knowledge of an average user.

• +Term. When you search for often used words, like how, where, or the, they will be ignored. But if you want to have them in your search string you have to put a ‘+’ right on their left, e.g. “+how +to ax 2009 demo”
• -Term. Use this when you want to exclude pages with certain words. That is most useful when you search for someone who has the same name as a celebrity, e.g. “Chuck Norris -actor -karate -facts -sport -video -youtube.com”. (Of course, in this case, this doesn’t work because no one else can have the name Chuck Norris)
• ‘*’. Replaces one or more words, e.g.  ” “AX * Snap In” “
• Advanced Operators. The form for using advanced operators is operator:searching_term. There are many different operators and I will describe few.
  • Operator ‘site’. This limits the search results onto a certain web site or a group of web sites on the same domain, e.g. “AX site:meritsolutions.com”
  • Operator ‘filetype’. This is useful when you are looking for a certain filetype in your results. Note: Don’t put a dot in front of the extension. Another good example is “AX 2009 filetype:pdf”
  • Operator ‘link’. With this operator, you provide the url and you will get all pages which have links toward it. Let’s see the incoming links for the Merit Solutions’ homepage with the query “link:http://www.meritsolutions.com -site:www.meritsolutions.com”
  • Operator ‘intitle’. This Operator filters the results to only those who have the search term in the title, e.g. “intitle:AX.2009. site:www.meritsolutions.com”
  • Operator ‘inurl’. This Operator filters the results to those who have the search term in the url. Let’s try to find the download page of Vendors Journal AX Snap-In on meritsolutions.com, e.g. “AX Snap In site:www.meritsolutions.com inurl:download”

Of course there are many more tips out there - and I invite you to share your Dynamics search tips below.

I have been using Dexterity for a long time and find it very easy to learn and powerful for the purposes it was designed for.

Just to make life of Dexterity developers interesting, from time to time you may experience some odd code behavior. In order to overcome such cases, I recommend as much advanced debugging as possible in any situation. A few days ago I faced a problem with the “copy to table” statement.

“copy to table” and “copy from table” are recommended for usage for a variety of reasons. The most important reasons are a more readable code and compatibility with Modifier (if you copy field by field and someone extends that window through the Modifier, the new fields will not be saved nor read).

But, with the “copy to table” statement, I run into the situation where key fields of a targeted table were not copied into the table buffer even if they had an AutoCopy flag equal to true. That lead to the malfunctioning of the form which was saving all data into the same records with key values empty.

The cause of this problem is that the form had more than one window with those key fields and on each window those fields have AutoCopy flag set to true.

There are two solutions
• To set AutoCopy flag for all repetitive fields to false on all windows but one
• Explicitly define source window through command “copy from window XYZ to table AAA” (I prefer this solution)

Merit Solutions Advanced Lot Management (ALM) is the application that allows efficient control of lot tracked materials (raw or finished goods) within Microsoft Dynamics GP (versions 9 and 10).

The system requirements correspond to requirements of Microsoft Dynamics GP. ALM version 9 requires Dynamics GP’s Manufacturing module to run, while ALM version 10 does not require Manufacturing module.

Expiration Date

Expiration Date is one of lot attributes tracked with ALM 10. In case the expiration date of a lot is in the past, then that lot can’t be used. Users should be careful with this, since every newly accepted lot automatically receives (expired) expiration date – the system date minus one day. This was made on purpose, to force QA users to manually enter valid expiration dates for each lot.

Once entered, these dates can be changed by QA users at any time. On the Lot Attribute Maintenance window, when selecting a lot, it’s Expiration Date is shown in the corresponding field. Simply overwriting the existing value with the new one and saving new setting is enough.

In case value in the Expiration Date field is empty, i.e. ‘00000000’ it means that the selected lot was accepted more than once, and that each time a different expiration date was set for it. By opening the Change Expiration Date window, a complete list of existing Expiration Dates for the lot will be listed. These values can be changed one by one on the Change Expiration Date window. On the Lot Attribute Maintenance window, the common Expiration Date can be set as already described above. A Warning message will inform the user that the previously set dates will be lost.

To hide fields on a Dynamics CRM form you should use the next two statements.

crmForm.all. fieldname_c.style.visibility=’hidden’;
crmForm.all. fieldname _d.style.visibility=’hidden’;

You can put this on filed Change or Form OnLoad/OnSave event script. Also, you can define it visible again:

crmForm.all. fieldname_c.style.visibility=’visible’;
crmForm.all.fieldname _d.style.visibility=’visible’;

Coming from the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog, starting today (April 2, 2009), SharePoint Designer 2007 will be available as a free download.

The team is hoping this free download will lead to more SharePoint Customizations.

Learn more about the free download on the MSDN SharePoint Team Blog site.

Merit Solutions Advanced Lot Management (ALM) is the application that allows efficient control of lot tracked materials (raw or finished goods) within Microsoft Dynamics GP (versions 9 and 10).
The system requirements correspond to requirements of Microsoft Dynamics GP. ALM version 9 requires GP’s Manufacturing module to run, while ALM version 10 does not require Manufacturing module.

ALM is focused on two pieces of information: Lot Status and Expiration Date. These information affect when and how material can be used.

Configuration

 Configuration of ALM should start in Advanced Lot Management Configuration window, the same one in which module was enabled for the company. Two options can be set on this window:

- Lot Status Missing Icon
- Default Lot Status for New Lots

 
The first option, “Lot Status Missing Icon”, defines the icon that will be shown in the Lot Status Maintenance window for new lots created (received) in situations when ALM was installed, but was not enabled for the company. Ten options are available to user, including: black, blue green, light blue, orange, pink, red and yellow dots, yellow triangle (named Warning) or empty field. The yellow triangle (Warning) is default value for the Lot Status Missing Icon.

The second option “Default Lot Status for New Lots” defines which status newly received lot will get by default. Four options are pre-created and available for the user: Approved, Hold, Quarantined and Rejected. The Quarantined option is the default value for the Default Lot Status for New Lots.

The Lot Status Maintenance window should be the second stop during the configuration process. Pre-created Lot Statuses can be found here and new statuses can be created.

 More importantly, on this window, the user can define for which transactions ALM can automatically assign a Status to a Lot. It is done by simply checking (un-checking) Allow boxes in the right side of the grid.

The QA User Setup window contains the list of all users of the company currently running Dynamics GP. In order to allow users to fully utilize all of ALM’s functionalities, the QA users should be defined. In QA User Setup window, double click on users name. The empty dot, left of the user name, should turn to a green dot. When finished click DONE button. The same procedure should be followed for assigning user classes. QA User Setup is company specific.

A User ID may have different privileges to Advanced Lot Management in different companies.

Finally, lot tracked items should be defined as ALM QA controlled. That way, for transactions defined in the Lot Status Maintenance window, new lot numbers for the item will receive the defined default lot status. Open the Item Maintenance window (Cards > Inventory > Item) and browse for the inventory item that will be ALM QA Controlled. Then open the QA Item Setup window (Item Maintenance window > Additional (menu) > ALM Item QA Control Setup) option.

On QA Item Setup window select Item is QA Controlled check box.